He lived from 1588-1679 dying at age 91. He is known as the founding father of modern political philosophy. A few years later, John Locke came along to debate Hobbes' philosophy. Hobbes was influenced by Plato, Aristotle, Galileo, Rene Descartes, and many others.
Biography
He was born in England of a poor vicar. His uncle fortunately had the money to provide for Thomas' education. He received the honor of being the tutor of William Cavendish. He was the son of William Cavendish: Baron Of Hardwick and, Earl of Devonshire. By taking this job, he was closer to all the royal loop of things. In other words, he basically got to know all of the political happenings. He was an English political philosopher. He had an interest in ethics which is thinking about how we should act and conduct ourselves in life. He was mostly known as a philosophical anthropologist. An anthropologist studies different cultures. He later attended the University of Oxford in England. At age 86, (in 1675) he published translations of THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY! Gottfried Leibniz was a reaction to Thomas Hobbes. He once accused himself of laziness. The last 10 chapters of his major work Leviathan were written in less than a year. That's About 90,000 words! At age 60, he began to suffer form what back then was called "shaking palsy". There is no scientific evidence, but the disease he had was thought to have been Parkinson's disease.
Philosophy
Political
He entwined his moral beliefs and his views on politics. He used what he thought was right in order to find right ways to run governments with that countries politics. He believed that the best we can hope for is an authoritarian ruled world. He believed that most governments were authoritarian and had no concern for their citizens. He thought that political authority was artificial and had to be created by mankind. He was against the argument that monarchs had god given power of the common person. He thought the world would be chaos without a decent government holding things down. He said that without government, there'd be no civilization. That would mean no agriculture, no trade, no science, and no art. Having no civilization could cause a chain reaction. Here is how it might happen. No government would lead to no civilization, which could branch off and lead to no art, which would cause there to be no paintings, no picture, and most of all, no music! What a sad world that'd be! He also thought that it was human nature and people were naturally selfish. His beliefs completely contradicted the thought of Anarchism. Anarchism is the belief that we should go about or lives without any form of government. He said that if some people are paranoid for their own safety, they should realize how paranoid they would be in a place with no government for a little assurance of safety. He asked if colonies of bees and ants can live in harmony, then it was completely bizzare that we couldn't. He thought that an ideal sovereign consisted of solemn peace and a strong monarchy as opposed to a tyrant. He thought that some people were so pompous and full of themselves that they would assert themselves to power and authority. He believed that if someone wanted to rise to power and guarantee total peace, one would have to have complete influential power, which is the last thing a society needs to be a decent one. The last great political philosopher before him was Nicolo Machiavelli. Machiavelli intertwined theology, the study of religion, with his thoughts of politics. Hobbes opted to keep them separate.
Materialism
Hobbes views matched that of a materialist. Materialism is the belief that everything is composed of matter, whether it be moving or just sitting around. He says that the human body is a machine, and politics are an artificial human.
The State Of Nature
Hobbes broke societies up into simpler terms: people fighting for survival in a world with diminishing resources. Without sovereign, there is no right or wrong. If you don't take what you need when you need it, you have the risk of someone taking it from you. In a state of nature, anything is plausible, for example, the weakest person in a society is capable of beating up the strongest person. This shows that no one is safe in the world. He seconded the golden rule. (Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.) To Hobbes, we lived under a social contract. Which to him, was giving up our natural rights, in exchange for the protection of someone. Thomas Hobbes had a theory he called the Prisoner's Dilemma. Say you and someone else were partners in crime, and you got arrested. You have to go in for questioning. You have to decide on what to say, because you and your partner are questioned separately , and if you two contradict yourselves, you will be caught lying to the coppers and you will be tried in court, and probably convicted.
Images
Quotes
Curiosity is the lust of the mind. Leisure is the Mother of Philosophy. No man's error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it. In the state of nature, the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
Leviathan- The Leviathan as described in the bible is a sea serpent. Hobbes describes it as a large man whose body is made up of many smaller people, and stands above the little city below like a big, tall tower. Behemoth
Man And Citizen
Sources
Tuck, Richard. Hobbes: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford UP, 1989
Papineau, David. Western Philosophy: An Illustrated Guide. New York: Oxford UP, 2004
"Williams, Garrath Lancaster University" Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2006. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 7 Apr. '08
<http://www.iep.utm.edu/h/hobmoral.htm>
"Kemerling, Garth" Philosophy Pages. 2006. Philosophy Pages. 7 Apr. '08 <http://philosophypages.com/ph/hobb.htm>
"BrainyMedia" Brainy Quote. 2008 Brainy Quote. 7 Apr. '08 <http://brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/Thomas_Hobbes.html>
Warburton, Nigel. Philiosophy: The Classics. New York: Routledge, 2006
By Evan R.
Introduction
He lived from 1588-1679 dying at age 91. He is known as the founding father of modern political philosophy. A few years later, John Locke came along to debate Hobbes' philosophy. Hobbes was influenced by Plato, Aristotle, Galileo, Rene Descartes, and many others.
Biography
He was born in England of a poor vicar. His uncle fortunately had the money to provide for Thomas' education. He received the honor of being the tutor of William Cavendish. He was the son of William Cavendish: Baron Of Hardwick and, Earl of Devonshire. By taking this job, he was closer to all the royal loop of things. In other words, he basically got to know all of the political happenings. He was an English political philosopher. He had an interest in ethics which is thinking about how we should act and conduct ourselves in life. He was mostly known as a philosophical anthropologist. An anthropologist studies different cultures. He later attended the University of Oxford in England. At age 86, (in 1675) he published translations of THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY! Gottfried Leibniz was a reaction to Thomas Hobbes. He once accused himself of laziness. The last 10 chapters of his major work Leviathan were written in less than a year. That's About 90,000 words! At age 60, he began to suffer form what back then was called "shaking palsy". There is no scientific evidence, but the disease he had was thought to have been Parkinson's disease.
Philosophy
Political
He entwined his moral beliefs and his views on politics. He used what he thought was right in order to find right ways to run governments with that countries politics. He believed that the best we can hope for is an authoritarian ruled world. He believed that most governments were authoritarian and had no concern for their citizens. He thought that political authority was artificial and had to be created by mankind. He was against the argument that monarchs had god given power of the common person. He thought the world would be chaos without a decent government holding things down. He said that without government, there'd be no civilization. That would mean no agriculture, no trade, no science, and no art. Having no civilization could cause a chain reaction. Here is how it might happen. No government would lead to no civilization, which could branch off and lead to no art, which would cause there to be no paintings, no picture, and most of all, no music! What a sad world that'd be! He also thought that it was human nature and people were naturally selfish. His beliefs completely contradicted the thought of Anarchism. Anarchism is the belief that we should go about or lives without any form of government. He said that if some people are paranoid for their own safety, they should realize how paranoid they would be in a place with no government for a little assurance of safety. He asked if colonies of bees and ants can live in harmony, then it was completely bizzare that we couldn't. He thought that an ideal sovereign consisted of solemn peace and a strong monarchy as opposed to a tyrant. He thought that some people were so pompous and full of themselves that they would assert themselves to power and authority. He believed that if someone wanted to rise to power and guarantee total peace, one would have to have complete influential power, which is the last thing a society needs to be a decent one. The last great political philosopher before him was Nicolo Machiavelli. Machiavelli intertwined theology, the study of religion, with his thoughts of politics. Hobbes opted to keep them separate.Materialism
Hobbes views matched that of a materialist. Materialism is the belief that everything is composed of matter, whether it be moving or just sitting around. He says that the human body is a machine, and politics are an artificial human.The State Of Nature
Hobbes broke societies up into simpler terms: people fighting for survival in a world with diminishing resources. Without sovereign, there is no right or wrong. If you don't take what you need when you need it, you have the risk of someone taking it from you. In a state of nature, anything is plausible, for example, the weakest person in a society is capable of beating up the strongest person. This shows that no one is safe in the world. He seconded the golden rule. (Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.) To Hobbes, we lived under a social contract. Which to him, was giving up our natural rights, in exchange for the protection of someone. Thomas Hobbes had a theory he called the Prisoner's Dilemma. Say you and someone else were partners in crime, and you got arrested. You have to go in for questioning. You have to decide on what to say, because you and your partner are questioned separately , and if you two contradict yourselves, you will be caught lying to the coppers and you will be tried in court, and probably convicted.Images
Quotes
Curiosity is the lust of the mind.Leisure is the Mother of Philosophy.
No man's error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it.
In the state of nature, the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
Links
Here are some links to him. These websites also contain info on other philosophers.
Thomas Hobbes @philosophy pages
Thomas Hobbes @ Internet Encyclopedia Of Philosophy
Leviathan.
Thomas Hobbes @ Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy
Major Works
Leviathan- The Leviathan as described in the bible is a sea serpent. Hobbes describes it as a large man whose body is made up of many smaller people, and stands above the little city below like a big, tall tower.
Behemoth
Man And Citizen
Sources
Tuck, Richard. Hobbes: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford UP, 1989
Papineau, David. Western Philosophy: An Illustrated Guide. New York: Oxford UP, 2004
"Williams, Garrath Lancaster University" Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2006. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 7 Apr. '08
<http://www.iep.utm.edu/h/hobmoral.htm>
"Kemerling, Garth" Philosophy Pages. 2006. Philosophy Pages. 7 Apr. '08 <http://philosophypages.com/ph/hobb.htm>
"BrainyMedia" Brainy Quote. 2008 Brainy Quote. 7 Apr. '08 <http://brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/Thomas_Hobbes.html>
Warburton, Nigel. Philiosophy: The Classics. New York: Routledge, 2006